Maryland’s eastern seaboard, along with most of Delaware and a bit of Virginia is a combination of farms, fishing and beach towns. After the nail biting 4.3 mile drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge where I was in the one reversible lane, I immensely enjoyed the drive to Chincoteague Island. Maybe it’s being a Midwestern, but I’m a lover of flat land and farms that stretch for as far as the eye can see. Eastern Maryland, did not disappoint. I also saw my share of mom and pop stands, crab shacks and reminders of Maryland’s history of slavery.

Chincoteague and Assateague, the islands of the wild ponies, pony swim and pony penning, were the setting for Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague. Trekking around the island, I couldn’t help but feel the book was an accurate portrayal of the island, even down to the accent of the locals. Beyond the wild ponies, the area is a bird watchers paradise and I saw many folks out doing just that. At a town park, I finished my day watching a lovely sunset.